


Getting Home

by Alien_Duck



Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2020-03-17 20:42:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18972571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alien_Duck/pseuds/Alien_Duck
Summary: You fall asleep at 3am no matter where you are or what you're doing, and wake up safe in bed. But how did you get back there?Short stories from different Portia residents covering what happens to Builder Sarah when she's fallen asleep somewhere other than her bed.Changing POV shown by chapter title, no set relationships yet other than friendships. Tags will be updated as I add people/chapters.





	1. Arlo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ladroitte](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladroitte/gifts).



> For Ladroitte, as thanks for introducing me to this wonderfully quirky game.  
> The summary says it all really. My take on how the player ends up home in bed each morning, no matter where they happened to fall asleep. And why the Civil Corp go to bed ridiculously early sometimes

Arlo grumbled as he set the ancient alarm clock and climbed in bed. He’d got “distracted” during RPS with Sam, so it was his turn to check on the builders tonight, to make sure the reckless idiots actually got home and didn’t become bandirat food. Which meant a ridiculously early night and missing drinks and darts at the Round Table with Sam, Remy, Antoine, and Sonia.

But, he thought with a sigh, flicking the light off and flopping backwards into his pillow and letting his arm stretch across the bed, losing a little sleep occasionally was preferable to not going round and checking on them at all. Allowing something terrible to happen to one of the people he was sworn to protect when he could have prevented it would weigh heavily on his conscience.   

~

Quarter to three in the morning found him riding away from Higgin’s workshop, shaking his head. Wang, Sweet and Allen had all been home. But then Wang was newly married, Sweet had a newborn and wasn’t working on anything more complicated than cooking pots, and Allen had always been the least likely to lose track of time and need rescuing. Higgins had been working his forges, but had held his hands up in defeat as soon as he’d seen Arlo approaching on Spacer and had walked himself into his home without argument. Which just left the newest builder in town.

Sarah was a strange one to be sure, he thought as he trotted through town. Always rushing around, taking on every odd job and favour everyone threw at her with a smile, as well as every commission she could get her hands on. Yet she always managed to get everything completed within two days of being asked. He could only think of three times in the year and a half she’d been here that had taken her longer than that, and those had only been delayed by a day because of festivals. She had a truly commendable work ethic.

But then that work ethic meant she was the person who needed taking home more often than not lately. Remy had found her curled up on Amber Island three days ago, slumped over on the roof of the cave entrance. Sam had found her a week before that by the duck pond, using an indignant Snaillob as a pillow. He could only hope that he’d go by her house and find all three of her llamas hitched in the stable.

But they weren’t. Of course they weren’t. Sherbert and Doofus were there, but her favourite Mr Fuzzybutt wasn’t. Meaning she probably wasn’t home. He hadn’t seen the llama waiting at any of the spots she sometimes forgot she’d left it at around Peach Plaza at any rate.

He groaned, and Spacer snorted as if in agreement. He urged his tired horse closer to the front of her house and dismounted, and tried her door. He was wholly unsurprised to find it unlocked, and when he let it swing inwards the lights were all on inside too. 

He stepped in quietly, noting the dishes piled up next to the sink, the blueprints spread across her round table, cushions thrown artfully over her couch, and then... her neatly made and empty bed.

He rubbed at his eyes as he walked out of her house, closing the door behind him. He moved his hand to his temples as he walked over to her work table and looked at her orders stuck to the back, trying to determine where she might be. She was working on an order for six pulleys for the Research Centre it looked like, and a quick count of the pile of iron and wood by his feet, and the solitary jug of lubricant, left him pretty certain he’d find her somewhere in the rat maze she’d made of Abandoned Ruin two.

Oh joy.

~

He looked down at Sarah with a scowl. She was curled up in a ball, legs half buried by the sand that was slowly falling from the wall behind her and letting out a soft wheezing snore. If he wasn’t so mad at her, he’d be tempted to call her cute.

He crouched next to her and gently sat her up, slipping the jetpack off her so he’d be able to fly them out of the convoluted mess she’d made for herself down here. He’d marked passages on his way down, and had ended up at the same cavern six times all coming from different directions. He scooped her up in his arms, holding her close to his chest and trying to ignore the strange feeling in his gut when she murmured sleepily, snaking her arms round his shoulders and burying her face in his neck, and started the long walk back to the entrance.

~

He sighed quietly as he put her shoes next to her bed and stepped back, glancing at the clock illuminated in a shaft of moonlight. Four twenty five. He really needed to have a serious talk with her in the morning about being responsible, and keeping track of time and her surroundings, and not causing more work for the Civil Corp. But that was a future Arlo’s problem. Present Arlo was going back to his bed and napping before Paulie and Sam dragged him out for their early morning run.


	2. Sam

Sam yawned as she stopped in front of the stables, stretching her arms above her head till she felt her shoulder pop then letting them fall as she rolled her neck. Staying up reading instead of trying to sleep for the hour between leaving drinks at the Round Table and starting the sleepy time rounds seemed to be working, even if she was sure she'd regret it later. Especially if Sarah was out and hadn't left clues about what she was working on again. 

She giggled quietly as she remembered Arlo's rant from a few weeks ago, about how it'd taken him three hours searching the desert based on a vague note about a bikini, only to finally find her hanging over a branch of the windbreaker trees next to Southblock. They still weren't sure how she'd got up there.

Shaking her head as she grabbed Teddy's saddle and moved towards her beloved horse, she froze when the peaceful night was shattered by the sound of monsters fighting. Fighting and screaming close enough to the barrier that she could clearly hear them.

She swore, dropping the saddle and tack and jumping up bareback, kicking Teddy into movement and heading straight for the giant doors to the wasteland. She was halfway there before realising she should have woken Arlo and Remy for backup, but there was nothing she could do now.

The noise stopped as she reached the bottom of the hill, which wasn't at all reassuring. She slowed Teddy, warily watching the door as she dismounted. Staying on her toes she started to edge closer, ready to attack or dodge at the slightest hint of danger, and so noticed immediately when the door slowly, slowly started to inch open.

"Teddy, get Arlo," she said, trusting her horse to follow the training and barge into his bedroom to drag the captain here by his ankles if needed, and relaxed slightly when she felt him leave. She started to move round to see through the door opening, to get a better view of whatever monster was trying to sneak through, and stopped when she instead found a giant white fluffy butt.

She stood frozen as a white llama backed towards her, and only shook herself out of her shock when she recognised him, and realised he was dragging something with his teeth.

"Mr Fuzzybutt?! What are you… by the light, Sarah!"

She lurched forward, only to stop again when she saw Mr Fuzzybutt lift his rear leg and drop his ears flat, one eye trained on her intently as he looked at her sideways, head close to the ground and gripping Sarah’s t-shirt in his teeth. Sam took in Sarah’s lolling head and unmoving body with worry, before snapping her attention back to the protective animal glaring at her.

"Woah there. Easy now. I'm just going to get the door for you, ok, so you can pull her through. There you go…"

Walking carefully behind the angry llama and pulling the door open let her see inside the wasteland, and she gulped. The trail of dead or twitching monsters leading away from the door would probably be funny under other circumstances. She let it swing shut after Sarah's boots cleared the edge, and held her hands out wide towards the fluffy ball of rage.

"Hey now, it's ok. You're ok. You know me Fuzzmeister, I sneaked you those apples the other day, remember? Juicy aroma apples. I've got some slices now if you let me check Sarah, yeah? There's a good llama."

She stepped closer, holding out the emergency apple slices as she quickly scanned him. Nasty scratch on his back leg. Specks of blood around his nose and mouth, though from him or the things he'd fought she wasn't sure. And one of his harness bells was hanging by a thread. He glared at her, eyes flicking between her face and her hand, before gently settling Sarah down, leaving a giant damp patch and teeth dimples on her shoulder as her head rolled sideways limply, and delicately took the offered food, standing close to his owner as he glared at everything around them.

Sam held the rest out to him on her open palm as she crouched on Sarah's other side, just to keep him in view. Dark bruise on her chin, slack expression that could be either sleep or unconsciousness, scratch along the length of her forearm, one trouser leg ripped at the thigh and the other half gone below the knee revealing bloody scratches. What had the girl been doing in there at this time of night to get like this?

"Yo kid, can you hear me?"

She was slowly reaching her hand towards Sarah's head, wanting to tilt it and check the bruise but not anger Mr Fuzzybutt again, when a shout broke the silence. 

"Sam? What's going on, why did you send-is that Sarah!?" 

Sam looked up to see Arlo running down the hill, sword in hand and missing a shoe. Running towards them and shouting was apparently the wrong thing to do given Mr Fuzzybutt’s current mood.

"Captain watch out!"

She watched as Arlo realised his mistake a second too late as the protective mount went for the perceived threat, and he dropped his sword to bring his arms up defensively just as Mr Fuzzybutt charged at him, head lowered.

Sam groaned, covering her eyes as she heard Arlo yelp, then a pause before a loud thump. She dragged her hand down her face and looked up at Remy, now standing next to her with his hammer leaning against his leg and shirt flapping open as he rubbed at his own eyes.

"Remy, you go grab Arlo. I'll get Sarah to the corp building and Dr Xu can look at them both there, before I go check on the other builders. Come on Fuzz-monster, I'll find you some more apples if you stop eating the Captain's hair."


	3. Oaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oaks finds Sarah and just wants to get her somewhere warm and safe

Oaks looked down at the sleeping woman before him, puzzled. He was fairly certain Sarah didn’t usually sleep on the riverbank by the falls, using her bait bucket for a pillow while the caterpillars all crawled away, but then he wasn’t normally around here till later. He glanced up at the sun barely showing over the horizon and tried to work out what time it was, given the season changes, and no, he was _normally_ around Amber Island right now. So... maybe she did like to sleep here? He shook himself from his thoughts when she shuffled and turned over, and he quickly crouched next to her and grabbed her arm to stop her rolling into the water.

What to do? He didn’t really want to leave her out here, especially since it was the end of Autumn and there’d been frost over everything that morning.

The cold breeze that suddenly swirled around them, making him shiver even with his fur cloak and Sarah to whimper and curl up in a ball, made his decision for him. He quickly but carefully slid his arms under her knees and shoulders and lifted her up with no effort, moving her on to one of the rocks slightly uphill before he gathered all her fishing equipment together, scooping up as much of her runaway bait as he could see. He put her things next to her while he worked out how best to carry all of it and her, wondering for a moment how she’d got it all here to start with. He sat her up gently and hoisted her up in a piggy back carry, her bag hanging across his chest as he used her rod under her butt, to avoid having to touch her there without asking.

Just how many fish had she caught he wondered, struggling to balance both her and her bag. It was incredibly heavy, wet, and kept moving as he tried to settle it.

He shifted her slightly, smiling as he felt her grab at the front of his fur before relaxing again as she hummed happily, her cold hands dropping down and brushing against his bare chest making him shiver, and he started walking back towards town. He wasn’t entirely sure what he should do now. He could take her to his house, and they could curl up together with Abu. Or he could take her back to her workshop, and then have to walk back to his house afterwards in the dark. Unless he slept on her sofa? She’d invited him in to eat and play an old relic game together before, so maybe she wouldn’t mind, especially if he woke up before her and could explain how and where he’d found her...

But then thinking about it, he was sure he'd heard her telling Alice that morning that her heating was broken, and she couldn’t fix it till at least tomorrow because she was waiting for some parts to finish on the grinder?

He glanced up when the sound of hooves and the soft jangle of a bell shook him from his thoughts, and saw Captain Arlo trotting towards him over the crest of the hill.

“Evening Oaks, what are you doing around here so early? Is everything o… k... is that Sarah you’re carrying?" Oaks nodded as he watched Arlo slump in his saddle, one of his hands running through his hair as he shook his head and smiled at the point on his shoulder where Sarah’s head was resting. "What happened to her this time? Is she hurt?”

“Good evening Arlo,” he replied quietly, shifting her again when he felt her stir slightly. “I don’t think she’s hurt, just tired. I found her fishing at the Falls spot, and she looked cold so I was just taking her home.”

“Oh, that’s kind of you Oaks,” Arlo replied, matching his volume. “Pass her up here and I’ll take her, so you don’t have to walk all the way to hers.”

“Oh, no, that’s fine. I’m taking her back to mine.”

Oaks was confused when Arlo froze, his expression changing from amused and gentle with a quirk on his lips, to meeting his eyes with a hard glint and set jaw. What had he done to anger the Captain?

“I don’t think that would be appropriate Oaks, given the circumstances. Pass her here so I can take her home now.” His voice had turned cold, even as it stayed quiet.

“But her heating’s broken, I heard her tell Alice this morning. If she goes back to hers she might freeze.”

He saw something in Arlo’s cheek twitch, before his face smoothed out again, except the deep frown he now wore.

“Then I’ll take her to the Civil Corp and she can sleep there.”

“How is that any different to her sleeping at my house, which is closer so she gets warm sooner?”

“It just is.”

“But why-”

“Because I’m the captain of the Civil Corp and I said so, ok?” he cut across loudly.

“No, you can’t just-”

He stopped everything when a low whimper sounded right next to his ear, and Sarah's arms, which had been hanging loosely against his chest suddenly wrapped around him and gripped his cloaks straps, backs of her fingers snug against his chest. He felt her head shift, bumping against the side of his before she buried her face in the crook of his neck, sighing deeply. 

He didn't want to move because that felt…. Nice? Which was strange, because it shouldn't be any different to him giving anyone a piggyback, but for some reason it was making his stomach feel squirmy.

Arlo shifting on Spacer in front of him brought him back to the moment, and he met the Captain's gaze again to find him red faced and glaring, and Oaks felt his temper start to stir. Because really, if anyone should be angry right now it should be him. Arlo had nearly woken Sarah up with his yelling, which was uncalled for, and he was being completely unreasonable about letting him get her somewhere warm and safe, and Abu had raised him to look after others in need, and -

“Good evening, oh, has Sarah fallen asleep out here again? She really does work too hard sometimes.”

“Ginger,” Arlo grunted, clearing his throat hastily and looking over his shoulder back towards town, his cheeks seeming to glow even redder than they had been before. Oaks glared at him a moment longer before turning his attention to Ginger, who was watching him with a strange expression, her lips barely twitching at the edges and her eyes sparkling slightly.

“Good evening Miss Ginger," he said quietly, not wanting to disturb Sarah's rest again. "She has, and I was just taking her back to mine to sleep with Abu, since he’s warm and comfy, and her heating's broken.”

“No you’re not Oaks, I’m going to take her back to the Civil Corp so she can sleep on the couch there.”

“Abu is warmer and comfier and closer!”

“And the Civil Corp is safer!”

“What do you even mean by that Arlo?” he snapped, glaring up at the other man.

“I _mean_ ," Arlo growled back, leaning half off Spacer towards him, "that you-”

“Why not bring her back to my house? She can sleep in my bed, since I’ll be up the rest of the night making my trinkets anyway," Ginger interrupted softly, reaching out to stroke Sarah's hair as she wriggled against his neck again, making his belly do the new flip flop thing.

He opened his mouth to protest again but then, there was no reason why Sarah shouldn’t sleep at Ginger’s house. She’d be warm, safe, and if Gust wasn’t here with Ginger then it meant he was already asleep. And with Mr Gale and Russo also there, Sarah would be perfectly safe. So he closed his mouth, and glanced up at Arlo. Arlo who looked like he’d eaten a lemon whole, but then nodded tightly when he noticed both him and Ginger waiting for a response.

“Excellent. Would you like me to take some of her things from you Oaks, to make her easier to carry?” Ginger asked, holding a hand out politely. 

“You could always pass her up here, so you don’t have to walk all that way up-”

Arlo stopped talking and started spluttering instead, his hand flailing wildly in his direction when Sarah shifted yet again, moving her hands from gripping Oaks cloak straps to sliding under them, flat against his shoulders. Her thumbs started moving in circles as she rubbed her face into the side of his head again, saying what sounded like “soft and fluffy duck butts”.

“That would be, ahem,” he coughed, then tried to talk again without squeaking. “That would be kind of you Miss Ginger. If you could just take the bucket here, with the caterpillars? Thank you. If you’re ready to go?”

Ginger giggled quietly, hiding her mouth behind one hand as she waved him forward with the other holding the bucket. He started walking, matching her pace, with Arlo clopping behind them silently, and quick glances over his shoulder showed him still looking grumpy and sour. Not that he knew why at this point. Paying attention to Ginger again, he found her watching him from the corner of her eye, smiling in that strange way he couldn’t work out, and was too scared to ask about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi~
> 
> Sorry it's been a while, I got caught up working on something else Portia related that should be out, er, relatively soon? Maybe? Hopefully...?  
> But anyway. I've got a few more people and situations I want to cover in this, so I'll try my best to chip away at them and not have such a big gap before I get them out!


	4. Ginger

Ginger leaned back against Sarah as she shifted slightly, trailing off into sleepy mumbles while pulling Ginger tighter against her chest. Ginger laughed softly when a soft puff of air tickled her neck as Sarah breathed out, her nose having pushed past the scarf she was wearing to settle against her skin. She moved her hand inside the sleeve of Sarah's coat to gently stroke her wrist, and looked out over the water towards the harbour, humming quietly as she enjoyed the quiet tranquility of the snowy evening.

Spending time with Sarah was nice. She had a way with words which made everything she said seem so vibrant. Every story she told sounding so exciting and incredible. With all of her adventures here in Portia with giant talking rats, collapsed tunnels, or dangerous AI’s in ruins, and then her tales from her time in Barnarock, she included details most others didn’t think worth mentioning. Details which added layers to every scene she described and made Ginger feel like she had actually been there with her.

Like today’s story, from her childhood in Barnarock. Despite the chill in the air, the overcast sky, and piles of snow around them, Ginger had closed her eyes and fallen into the world Sarah painted. A world of hot sands, and constantly shifting dunes surrounding the small town she’d lived in. Of dry heat and shimmering mirages under the sweltering midday sun. Of the oasis she used to visit with her friends. Of the colours and sounds and scents and the people she’d left behind. Of the spicy foods native to the country, that Ginger now wanted to try despite disliking them in general.

A world Ginger would never be able to visit for many reasons, but now felt the slightest part closer to.

She turned her head to rub her cheek against her sleeping friends, keeping her eyes on the lighthouse, enjoying the way the rotating light illuminated the falling snow. The muffled sounds of the people there still working so late in the day rolled across the open water between them, mingling with the sounds of Gust moving around and muttering as he worked next to them under the large tree.

She glanced over at Gust, grumbling quietly as he tried to shift the lamp so he could see his sketch-book but not blind her. Her brother was so kind to her, indulging her whims to spend time outside in the fresh air when she could.

He seemed to feel her watching him, and looked across at her, and groaned as his eyes settled on Sarah draped over her back. But she simply smiled a little as she raised her finger to her lips. His face took on a fondly irritated expression as he looked between them, before turning away and reaching for his bag.

“I’ve told you before about letting her sleep out here when it’s snowing,” he grumbled, quietly enough to not wake her before he started to put his sketch-book away. “It’s one thing in the other seasons, but you’ll both get sick if you aren’t careful.”

“You don't need to worry so much, we’re keeping each other warm,” she answered quietly, letting go of Sarah’s wrist to pull her hand out and reach back and tug the blanket wrapped around them more firmly in place. “And you don’t need to stop, I’m happy to sit here a while longer.”

“Well I’m not. I’m cold and tired, and since you aren’t going to let me wake her up,” he paused, turning again to raise his brows as she giggled softly and shook her head. “I’m the one who has to carry her home.”

Ginger let her smile grow as Gust put away the rest of his things, starting to unwrap Sarah from around her. It wasn’t easy, since Sarah was a very huggy person when like this, and she didn’t make much progress until Gust started helping her, holding Sarah’s wrists and then wrapping them tightly against her with the blanket. Ginger sighed softly when she saw Gust was wearing his bag already, leaving her only the lamp to carry.

She pulled her gloves on while he finished cocooning Sarah in the blanket and picked her up, carrying her in his arms and letting her head rest on his shoulder. For all his complaints and grumblings about looking after Sarah, he really was terribly kind to her too. He always let her sleep, instead of waking her up like he used to threaten when it first started happening over the Summer. He never complained when she talked to him, actually seeming interested in what she had to say. And recently he’d been bringing three cups with her thermos of hot chocolate, instead of only the two like he’d done all last Autumn and Winter.

She lifted the lamp to light the path as they started walking along the road next to the water. The thin layer of snow that had settled crunched under their boots, seeming overly loud when compared to how muted everything else was. She watched carefully as small flurries danced across the road, covering the bumps and dips in an almost flat layer of white. While she knew where most of the uneven parts were from her nightly walks, the long haul buses that drove along this stretch of road sometimes altered things, and she didn’t want Gust to trip and hurt himself, or drop Sarah.

She stopped as they approached the path that lead up to Portia’s gates, a faint sound she couldn’t quite identify making her lift the lamp higher and stare at the shadows moving over the edge of the small rise of the corner. While Portia was mostly safe, monsters did occasionally approach town. She glanced up at Gust, who had stopped next to her and was frowning, before he rolled his eyes and started walking again.

“It’s a horse, so one of the Corps,” he muttered only just loud enough for her to hear, resettling Sarah in his arms so she was more firmly against his chest. “I hope it’s not Arlo, I’m in no mood to deal with his posturing tonight.”

Ginger covered her mouth as she giggled, stepping quickly to catch up and walk by his side again. The sounds grew louder as whoever it was drew closer, the quiet clop of hooves and snorts of breath becoming clearer until they reached the junction at the same time as the rider.

It  _ was _ Arlo, whose horse Spacer snorted and flicked his ears when he was pulled to a stop, before reaching his head forward to snuffle at Sarah.

“Has she fallen asleep out here  _ again _ ?” Arlo asked, sounding fondly frustrated as he gazed at her curled up in Gust’s arms, and Ginger had to bite her lip and duck her head. It was very unlike Arlo to skip pleasantries like that, especially with her brother. “She really needs to get Xu to find out what’s wrong. Thank you for getting her this far, you can pass her up here, and I'll get her hom-”

“That won’t be necessary thank you Captain,” Gust clipped out, and Ginger looked back up just in time to see Arlo sit up straight in his saddle and smooth the surprise from his face. “I am perfectly capable of carrying her the rest of the way to her home, since we are already heading that way, and you were clearly on your way somewhere else.”

She watched as Arlo spluttered, obviously taken aback by her brother’s bluntness.

“Don’t worry Arlo,” she said quietly, trying not to let her amusement show. “I have a key to her house, so we’ll be able to get her inside safely.”

His eyes finally flickered towards her, and she smiled up at him as his cheeks darkened from cold tinged pink, to bright blushing red.

“Ah, hello Ginger, I didn’t see you there.”

She gave a small wave to him as Gust scoffed loudly, rolling not only his eyes but his whole head. Arlo was shifting uncomfortably, looking between her and Sarah in Gust’s arms. He threw a brief glare at Gust, before his head dropped forward with a sigh, obviously unable to argue against the logic of what they’d said.

“I, I suppose I’d best be on my way then,” he said, resigned. He met her eye and spoke kindly to her, and she got the impression he was pretending Gust wasn’t there anymore. “Be careful on the path, there are patches of ice under some of the snow that are slippery.”

“Yes, thank you Captain, because we’ve never walked along this stretch in the snow before,” Gust drawled sarcastically. “Come along Ginger, I’d like to get Sarah tucked in her bed before she starts to freeze.”

Ginger bit the inside of her cheek as Gust strode off ahead, head held high and either not noticing or not caring how Arlo’s head whipped round to follow him, or the way his jaw dropped open in shock. She reached out to pat the top of Spacer’s nose a few times, before she followed her brother, nodding up at Arlo as she passed.

“Good evening Arlo, I hope your patrol is uneventful,” she told him mildly, and tried her best to ignore his splutters as she carefully stepped in Gust’s shoeprints in the snow. She waited until the sound of Spacer’s muffled hooves started to echo through the still air again before bringing her hand up to cover her mouth, letting her giggles escape into the fabric of her glove.

Gust had stopped a little ways ahead, waiting for her with a half scowl, half smug look on his face. He lifted a brow at her, and she shook her head and tutted to playfully admonish him.

He rolled his eyes again, a slight blush on his cheeks as he turned and continued up the path, rubbing his cheek against the top of Sarah’s head in an unconscious gesture of affection. He knew just as well as she did about Arlo’s feelings towards Sarah, and to deliberately wind the Captain up with his choice of words had been mean.  _ Especially _ when Arlo hadn't realised yet that Gust saw her more as another younger sister to dote on, rather than someone to romance. And protect from the idiots who clearly weren’t good enough for her if they couldn’t even ask her on a date properly she’d heard him mutter more than once. 

She found the whole affair rather amusing to watch really. Sarah was so loved by everyone in town, and yet she seemed oblivious to it all. The way the older people fussed and doted on her, slipping her extra goods and commission fees, sending her gifts in the mail, making sure she was eating enough. And then the way some of the young people pined after her, with longing glances and flustered smiles, becoming tongue tied when she so much as smiled at them.

Arlo was better at hiding it when she was awake, acting the part of polite Captain, but anyone who saw him asking or chasing after Sarah, or bringing her home late at night, could see how truly smitten he was. But that might end up working against him she mused as they approached the edge of Sarah's fence.

Especially when compared to Oaks, who had taken to giving her bundles of flowers and carved charms, not caring who was around to see. Mint was constantly finding ways to spend time with her, despite the lack of new projects. Sarah had mentioned that Xu was calling her to the clinic more often lately, only for them to end up eating a meal together instead of running tests to discover the cause of her sleepiness. And Ginger had noticed Mei becoming less subtle and more outrageous with her flirts, and Alice asking her for help with her story more often, and for more intimate scenes.

Yes, she thought, as she opened the gate for Gust. It was all rather amusing indeed.

And she was truly looking forward to seeing what all of Sarah’s suitors would do next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next two chapters are both in the works, because I'm not sure which comes first in the "timeline", but I honestly have no idea how long they'll take me to write with the other things I've got going on. So I apologise now for any potential delays ^_^

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos make me smile and comments make my day, but no pressure to leave either. Just knowing you've read my rambling gives me warm fuzzies ^_^


End file.
